


That's Right

by The_Almighty_Ro



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions, Pokemon
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied animal abuse, Recovery, idk what else to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2017-12-28 16:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/993942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Almighty_Ro/pseuds/The_Almighty_Ro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's never seen a Meowth in Unova before...she's also never seen a Pokemon so injured and afraid.</p><p>A story of a girl and a Pokemon told in bits and pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Cry In The Night

The first time she hears it, she has to stop and listen through the rain that pounds a steady symphony through the hood of her raincoat. She thinks that maybe her ears are playing tricks on her, or that a Ghost pokemon is at least, and brushes it off. It's cold and the storm is terrible and she wants nothing more than to get to the pokemon center to dry off and warm up.

When she hears it a second time, louder than the first, she's closer to the edge of the forest. Now she knows her ears aren't playing tricks on her because it comes a third followed shortly by a fourth.

 _'What could possibly be out here in this rain?'_ she wonders and immediately begins searching for the source.

As she digs through the underbrush on her hands and knees, she realizes that it's getting closer, but also weaker; whatever is out here has been for a while and is slowly losing strength. It's deffinitely a pokemon, she decides, and a hurt one too!

Her hood has fallen from her head and her long brown hair is plastered to her neck and face by the time she finds it: a shivering, injured little ball of wet fur with large eyes.

She stares at it in awe. _'It's a cat!'_ her mind coos as she slips her pokedex from her pocket. It reads error and she becomes all the more entranced by it. _'I've never seen a cat-type pokemon like this in Unova!'_

It takes her a moment to realize that the pokemon is dangerously malnourished and staring pitifully at her. "Hey there little kitty, it's okay now," she smiles, reaching for it.

With a hiss, it summons what may be the last of it's strength and takes a clumsy swing at her. She rears back in time to save her face, but her hand suffers the brunt of the damage and blood mixes with the rivulets of rainwater running down her wrist. The pokemon watches placidly as she brings the injured limb to her chest with a soft whine.

It takes a few moments of nursing the wound before she works up the courage to reach for it again. The pokemon swipes weakly at her and misses, giving her the chance she needs to scoop it into her arms; it bites, she winces, but stands with a reassuring smile and starts back toward the path into town.

She has several more bite wounds before she scurries into the Pokemon Center, the tiny creature having caught a second wind and thrashing to try and claw at her face. It yowls pitifully in protest, catching the nurse's attention before they can approach the counter; she's understandably appalled by the state it's in and she rushes to explain that she found it like that.

The woman nods and rushes the weak pokemon off to the ICU, cooing softly to soothe it while restraining it at the same time; the last thing she sees before the doors swing closed is it's wide, blue eyes staring accusingly at her.

End


	2. In Need Of Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheren makes his debut and reminds our hero to take care of herself as well.

"White."

She looks up at the sound of her name, smiling weakly at the dark-haired boy as he strides up to meet her. "Cheren," she says by way of greeting.

His expression doesn't change, but she can tell he's happy to see her from the way the ice in his eyes thaws. Cheren had always been too serious for his own good, but it was nice to know that he cared for her enough to let down his guard just a little.

The corner of his mouth quirks into a faint smile. "I heard you made a scene in here earlier. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she nods, "I found an injured pokemon on my way into town and rushed here. I think the nurse almost had a heartattack."

Cheren hums and takes her injured hand, inspecting the gashes and bite wounds peppering her skin. She flushes slightly at the contact. "I think anyone would if you came in covered in this much blood. Why haven't you taken care of these?"

She flushes for an entirely different reason this time and smiles weakly. "I forgot."

This time the smile he gives her is affectionate and lopsided and she feels her smile widen as he takes a seat beside her to tend to her arm. "Of course you did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, if I need to add tags please let me know!


	3. Vicious Repetition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White realizes that this is a thing that keeps happening.

The nurse tells her that it's a pokemon from the Kanto region called Meowth and that it's trainer must have abandoned it. When she asks how she knows this, the nurse's expression darkens and explains that pokemon aren't that afraid of humans without a reason-and that its unheard of to find Meowth in Unova. When asked if she can see it, the nurse hesitates before letting White behind the counter and leading her to an incubator.

She's horrified by the tubes used to keep the poor thing alive.

"It's malnourished," she explains, indicating the sharp ribs poking through now clean cream-colored fur. "And badly beaten. A few bones were cracked, but there's no permanent damage."

White swallows as she watches the weak rise and fall of the pokemon's chest. "So...why the tubes?"

The nurse is grim. "It refuses to eat. I had to sedate it so I could feed a tube through it's mouth." She lays a shaking hand on the glass as if to run her fingers through matted fur. "But if it keeps refusing to eat, I can't guaruntee it'll survive."

She chokes on a sob she didn't realize was building in her throat and the nurse looks up sharply, eyes wide. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she wipes at them violently as if to hide the evidence. "That's...that's so horrible!" she chokes out.

It's with eyes full of pained understanding that the nurse pulls her into a hug meant to soothe. Instead it only makes her cry harder when she realizes that this tiny Meowth isn't the first pokemon she's seen like this...and it probably won't be the last.

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another reminder that if I need to add any tags, let me know.


	4. Words Aplenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White chatters until she finally gets Meowth's attention.

She stays in the town longer than originally planned so she can visit the Meowth every day. By this time Bianca has caught up and passed through, having her own moment of despair over the assumed fate of the pokemon kept in an incubator at the Center. She asks White what she will do if it doesn't make it and White replies she doesn't know, but she does say that she will visit it until it either passes or gets better.

Bianca smiles sadly and says that's just like her to do that and hugs her tight before departing.

The days that follow are somber and quiet and the nurse has seen her enough just to nod her through. She spends her days chattering at the comatose pokemon without response, telling it all about what she's seen and done since leaving home and the people and pokemon she's met. There are stories about the gym leaders she's fought so far, about the pokemon she's caught and let go who are her very best friends; she tells it about Professor Juniper and the quest she's been charged with and Bianca, the professor's self-proclaimed bodyguard. She hedges on Cheren and how she feels about him because she isn't so sure herself and plows right into how cool her mother is.

It's with great hesitation that she tells the pokemon about N and Team Plasma, but when that's the one thing that seems to get it's attention she keeps going. By the end of the story, it's eyes are open and it's staring dubiously at her.


	5. Baby Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's still a ways to go, but just this much is fine.

The nurse says it's a miracle that the pokemon is awake and applauds her for getting it to respond to her. It still skirts around the two of them when they walk into the room, but it tolerates their presence and, best of all, picks at the bowls of food they bring. They know it's a minor improvement, but compared to the weeks prior it's as if it stood on two feet and started talking.

White is the one who's most pleased by the improvement; by now the bandages on her arm have come off, revealing rows of puckered scabs and healing bite marks from tiny fangs. The Meowth eyes them whenever she walks into the room as if wondering why she's still around if it hurt her so badly. They both know the wounds will scar, that much was obvious from the depth of most of them, but she wears them proudly like the badges from the gym leaders she's defeated. Maybe it thinks her a fool to be proud of something like that, or maybe it's just befuddled by her in general, but it inches closer to her bit by bit as the days pass as if to test boundries.

When the day comes that it's close enough for her to pet it, the smile on White's face is so bright that the Meowth is certain it will be blinded.


	6. Welcome Wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No need to be nervous.

White makes the decision to take the Meowth with her, which the nurse agrees to and goes about discharging the pokemon to her. It's unsure of what to do at this point but goes with her without complaint, refusing to stay in a pokeball once one is assigned and trots along beside her.

It becomes acquainted with her other pokemon and cowers from them at first; they are all fully evolved and powerful creatures who tower above it and it's still just a tiny little kitten in comparison. Her Victini, the only one in the party smaller than two feet, breaks the tension by tackling it into a hug and cooing a welcome and the others join in by nuzzling the still nervous Meowth and cooing their own welcomes in soothing tones.

She watches them from her spot against a tree, smile soft as the Meowth slowly comes out of it's shell and gets comfortable with them. In her lap is a book on Kanto pokemon she bought before leaving the last town.


	7. What's In a Name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next step is figuring out what to call you.

"I think it's time I gave you a name," she tells it during a break from hiking through the woods. It eyes her dubiously, not quite sure what she's getting at, but she plows on as if not noticing it. "The others all have names and since you're an official part of the family now, you should have one too. How does that sound?"

It meows at her uncertainly in response.

White beams at it. "Great! So I was thinking of something you could grow into!" She taps the book resting beside her, closed for the moment. "And since you're still cute as a button now, I was thinking about Elly-short for Elenore!"

'Elly' blinks slowly before nodding, using everything it has to keep from running to her and rubbing against her scarred arm in thanks.


	8. Don't Touch Her!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meowth realizes something it's kind of always known about White when N shows up.

Elly has begun her training when she finally meets N and Team Plasma for the first time. She watches as White angrily exchanges words with him, which he ignores in favor of staring placidly down at her; she hides behind her trainer's leg.

"That one's new," he says, which completely derails the tirade White is in the middle of and sends a shiver down Elly's feline spine. She remembers that look; she saw it a hundred times on the faces of the trainers who she was forced to fight for before. "What's a Meowth doing in Unova?"

White scoops her into her arms faster than Elly can blink, huddling over her protectively. "Stay away from her," she hisses venomously.

N notices the scars on her arm for the first time since running into her and cocks his head curiously. "Why White! Did you capture that poor thing against it's will like all the other trainers in this world? I'm disappointed..."

She's surprised when her trainer doesn't try to defend herself against the accusation. The scars look bad, yes, but she only got them because Elly was afraid and angry the night that seems so long ago now. White didn't get them because she took me against my will, she wants to say, but because she was trying to help me!

And with that thought a surge of gratitude and love flows through her, giving her the courage she needs to leap from White's arms and advance on the young man with a threatening hiss. N watches her with a carefully blank expression; he listens as she hisses all kinds of things at him, things that White can't understand, from expletives she learned from listening to the girl get irritated over stubbing her toe to how he was no better than the Team Rocket grunt that had abandoned her.

_She saved me when I had been abandoned for being weak. And now she loves me because I am me._

He smiles at that, but it's patronizing and patient-like a parent listening to a child try and articulate a lie they thought to be true. "That little pokemon seems to care about you a great deal," he says. "Be sure to take care of it, because once I free all pokemon you'll never see it again."

Both Elly and White hiss this time as he and his grunts disappear through the trees.


	9. Familar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past begins to resurface.

White learns of Elly's origins not long after that when a trainer from Johto passes through the town they're staying in and does a double take.

"Where did you get that Meowth?" he asks, brushing red hair behind his ear as he crouches in front of it.

She blinks at him, completely beweildered. "I found her in the woods. Why?"

Piercing silver eyes assess the pokemon from head to toe as if looking for some kind of telling sign and suddenly Elly is aware of who he is before he can introduce himself. "My name is Silver," he says, "And I have a story to tell you."


	10. Pretty, Pretty Pokemon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White decides to make a change.

Her origins do nothing to dampen their relationship Elly is surprised to learn, but White is more determined than ever to prove that she's got the stuff of a champion pokemon inside her. She starts by brushing her fur every day as opposed to once every few like before; she takes her to bathe with her (much to the feline's chagrin) and uses a shampoo that makes her fur soft and glossy. Treats she can't afford and instead learns to make come next to help keep her healthy. Regular check-ups at pokemon centers whenever they come into a town help confirm that she's the healthiest and prettiest Meowth the nurses have seens in a long while and White beams proudly.

The training is the same as before, despite the effort she puts into making her show worthy. She neither adds or takes away from the regimen because she knows that it was the harsh treatment before that eventually broke her and that treating her like a special case would make her other pokemon jealous and give her an ego. Despite the pampering, Elly is glad she understands this and accepts the doting without complaint.

It's annoying, but she feels loved.


	11. Evolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elly is tired of Cheren's shit.

When she evolves, it comes suddenly during a battle with Cheren. She's met the young man many times at this point and, despite her initial dislike of the stoic boy, has come to accept him as a suiter for her trainer's heart.

Elly is bracing herself for the final attack that will knock her from the fight when White cries her name and something inside her breaks. Up to this point Cheren's pokemon have wiped the floor with her in every battle they've had and she's sick of it; she wants to show White that all her training up till now hasn't been for naught, that she's strong now and she's grateful for the love and friendship she's been given. So she gets back to her paws, let's out a battle cry, and glows brighter than any pokemon either of the two trainers have seen before.

**Author's Note:**

> Another old fic that I'm moving over here from FF.Net, because I was awful proud of this when I wrote it. This one is largely unchanged and will be posted in the same format as the original (that is to say, in bits and pieces like small moments), so it'll take a while to finish. Good news is this is a completed fic, so updates will be pretty regular. Tags will also change as it goes on.


End file.
